Statewide Iowa — Disconnection notices will start going out to Iowa residents behind on their bills for electricity and natural gas as the winter moratorium on utility disconnections ended Friday.
Figures from the Iowa Utilities Board show that as of February more than 179-thousand accounts were past due, up from 165-thousand last year. The Iowa Department of Human Rights Energy Assistance Program Manager, Christine Taylor, says that has led to more interest in the state assistance program.
The moratorium on disconnection (which means a few months when utility companies cannot shut off your heat) begins in November and is designed to help the state’s most vulnerable households.
Taylor says anyone now facing disconnection should contact their utility and their Community Action agency for help. In addition, if people haven’t applied for heating assistance for the winter we’ve just finished, through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, they can call their local community action agency.
